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Chapter 9
The Jaina Theory of Liberation and the Non-absolute
The Basic Implications of the Theory of Liberation
The mundane existence of the self and the variations of its powers suggest that there may be a state of the self's existence where it is free from the mundane limitations and distortions. It means that then the liberated soul will have no obstruction to the manifestations of its powers. In Jaina philosophy the doctrice of karma provides the principle of the soul's fall from its pure state. The disappearance of the karmic influence from the soul will lead to its pure and selfdetermined functions. The seven principles of Jaina philosophy give us the various stages on the path to liberation. Thus the theory of liberation presupposes the existence of the soul and its bondage by the karmas; liberation, then, is the freedom of the soul from the bondage of the karmas. The possibility of this freedom is another implication of the theory of liberation. Along with the existence of the soul the truth of its bondage and the possibility of freedom from karma may be taken to be the basic conceptions upon which the rise of the soul from its mundane existence to the liberated state depends.
The Nyāyā and the Mīmāsmā Conceptions of Mokṣa
In almost all the systems the conception of mokṣa is very closely connected with the conceptions of the soul and its bondage. To begin with, for the Nyaya the soul is a substance in which the attributes of knowledge, feeling, desire, etc., inhere on account of the category of samayāya.
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